California's 50th congressional district special election, 2006

Infobox Election
election_name = Californias 50th congressional district special election, 2006
country = California
type = presidential
ongoing = no
election_date = June 6 2006


nominee1 = Brian Bilbray
party1 = Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote1 = 78,341
percentage1 = 49.30%


nominee2 = Francine Busby
party2 = Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote2 = 71,146
percentage2 = 44.77%
title = Representative
before_election = Duke Cunningham
after_election = Brian Bilbray
before_party = Republican Party (United States)
after_party = Republican Party (United States)

A special election was held in the 50th Congressional District of California to choose a new member of the United States House of Representatives to replace Randy Cunningham, who resigned November 28, 2005 after pleading guilty to bribery, wire fraud, mail fraud, and tax evasion charges. (On March 3, 2006, he was sentenced to eight years and four months in a federal prison). The special primary election was held on April 11, 2006. If a single candidate had won a simple majority, he or she would have served out the rest of Cunningham's term. As no candidate won a simple majority, the top vote-getters in each party, Francine Busby for the Democrats and Brian Bilbray for the Republican competed in a runoff or special general election, held on June 6, 2006. Bilbray won the special election (49% to 45%) and was sworn in on June 13, 2006 as a member of the Congress. Busby and Bilbray also both won their party's primaries, held the same day, and faced each other again in the November 2006 general election, in which Bilbray won re-election.

National implications?

Because the 50th is considered to be a heavily Republican district, it would have been considered major news if Busby had won. [cite news
title=Washington Whispers: GOP Fears in a Bellwether Race | date=2006-06-05 | publisher=US News and World Report | url=http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/060605/5whisplead.htm ] "This is a biggie," said Carl Luna, a political science professor at San Diego's Mesa College. "Everyone is going to be reading the tea leaves as a predictor of November." [cite news
first=Tony| last=Perry | title=Key Race Is Seen as a Test of GOP's Vulnerability | date=2006-05-30 | publisher=Los Angeles Times | url=http://www.latimes.com/news/local/politics/cal/la-me-fifty30may30,1,295798.story?coll=la-news-politics-california ] For that reason, the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $5 million on this race. [cite news
title=Campaign: Spin on Special Election Begins | date=2006-06-08 | publisher=The Hill | http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Campaign/060806.html ]

Controversies

During the campaign, Arizona Senator John McCain cancelled a planned fundraiser for Bilbray at the last minute, after Bilbray criticized McCain's immigration bill as "amnesty" for illegal immigrants. [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/50thdistrict/20060531-9999-1mi31mccain.html "McCain Pulls out of Bilbray Fundraiser", San Diego "Union-Tribune", 2006-05-31] ] Later, McCain contributed money to Bilbray's campaign and voiced a radio commercial for the National Republican Congressional Committee in support of Bilbray's race against Busby. [ [http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/6/4/154922.shtml "McCain Cancels Appearance at Bilbray Event"2006-06-04] ]

On June 2, five days before the special congressional election, Busby was recorded telling a largely hispanic group that "You can all help--you don't need papers for voting, you don't need to be a registered voter to help." This comment was in response to a question by a man who asked in Spanish, "I want to help, but I don't have papers." [cite news
first=Dani| last=Dodge | title=Busby on defense, says she misspoke| date=2006-06-03 | publisher=San Diego Union-Tribune | url=http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/50thdistrict/20060603-9999-1mi3busby.html] The recording was circulated over the Internet and on radio. Republicans claimed Busby was encouraging people to vote illegally, while Busby claimed she misspoke and meant that a person does not need to be a registered voter to help her campaign (such as phoning registered voters). [ [http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/50thdistrict/20060603-9999-1mi3busby.html SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Politics - Busby on defense, says she misspoke ] ]

A number of irregularities in the election were alleged, including the swearing in of Bilbray by a member of his own party 17 days before the election was certified, "electronic voting machines sent out to the homes and cars of volunteers for up to 12 days prior to the election, and irregular election results like huge mega-precincts of absentee ballots where turnout was thousands of percent more than registered voters." The Democratic National Committee's Voting Rights Institute raised several concerns about the fairness and accuracy of the vote count. [cite web| last =Moore| first =Greg | title =DNC Voting Rights Institute on CA-50 Special Election| publisher =Democratic National Committee | date =2006-07-14| url =http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/07/dnc_voting_righ.php| accessdate =2007-04-03] An election contest lawsuit sought a hand recount. [ [http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0608/S00316.htm Congressional Election Nullified – Nobody Noticed] , Scoop (news website), 25 August 2006] The court dismissed the suit on the basis that, once the House of Representatives had sworn in Bilbray, the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the challenge. [Citation| last = LaVelle| first =Philip J.| title =Judge throws out suit seeking to void election of Rep. Bilbray| newspaper =San Diego Union-Tribune| year =2006| date =August 30, 2006| url = http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060830-9999-1mi30vote.html]

Post Special-Election analysis

Political Analyst Larry Sabato wrote: "What a difference four percentage points makes! That was Bilbray's margin over Busby, a gaffe-prone, lackluster candidate who was out of her league. With six years (1995-2001) under his belt from another California House district, former congressman Bilbray understood what it took to win a tough campaign, and riding the immigration issue, he did so. The DCCC forced the NRCC to pull out all the stops and spend a large fortune for Bilbray, but given the dam that might have burst had Busby won, it was worth every GOP penny for them." [cite news
first=Larry | last=Sabato | title=Election Exceptions: Which 2006 contests will frustrate the national trend?| date=2006-06-15 | publisher=University of Virginia Center for Politics | url=http://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/article.php?id=LJS2006061501]

Run-off and Primary elections

The June 6, 2006 run-off was held at the same time as the primary election for the biennial November 7, 2006 general election. This created a peculiar opportunity for voters to vote on the same ballot for two different people for the same post; one to immediately fill the vacant seat, the other to run in the November election.

Polling

References

ee also

* Special elections to the United States House of Representatives

External links

* [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/washington/07cnd-elect.html?hp&ex=1149739200&en=7cd672d6b42fa7e4&ei=5094&partner=homepage|New York Times article on the results]